“Brought the boots himself! Don’t
wait his pay! Takes his leave with a bow and
a scrape fit to honor majesty withal! Desires
a continuance of my custom! Is the world coming
to an end? Of all the—come in!”
“Pardon, signore, but I have brought your new
suit of clothes for—”
“A thousand pardons for this intrusion, your
worship. But I have prepared the beautiful suite
of rooms below for you—this wretched den
is but ill suited to—”
“I have called to say that your credit at our
bank, some time since unfortunately interrupted, is
entirely and most satisfactorily restored, and we
shall be most happy if you will draw upon us for any—”
“My noble boy, she is yours! She’ll
be here in a moment! Take her —marry
her—love her—be happy!—God
bless you both! Hip, hip, hur—”
“Oh, George, my own darling, we are saved!”
“Oh, Mary, my own darling, we are saved—but
I’ll swear I don’t know why nor how!”
One of a group of American gentlemen reads and translates
from the weekly edition of ‘Il Slangwhanger
di Roma’ as follows:
Wonderful discovery—Some six
months ago Signor John Smitthe, an American gentleman
now some years a resident of Rome, purchased for a
trifle a small piece of ground in the Campagna, just
beyond the tomb of the Scipio family, from the owner,
a bankrupt relative of the Princess Borghese.
Mr. Smitthe afterward went to the Minister of the Public
Records and had the piece of ground transferred to
a poor American artist named George Arnold, explaining
that he did it as payment and satisfaction for pecuniary
damage accidentally done by him long since upon property
belonging to Signor Arnold, and further observed that
he would make additional satisfaction by improving
the ground for Signor A., at his own charge and cost.
Four weeks ago, while making some necessary excavations
upon the property, Signor Smitthe unearthed the most
remarkable ancient statue that has ever bees added
to the opulent art treasures of Rome. It was
an exquisite figure of a woman, and though sadly stained
by the soil and the mold of ages, no eye can look
unmoved upon its ravishing beauty. The nose,
the left leg from the knee down, an ear, and also the
toes of the right foot and two fingers of one of the
hands were gone, but otherwise the noble figure was
in a remarkable state of preservation. The government
at once took military possession of the statue, and
appointed a commission of art-critics, antiquaries,
and cardinal princes of the church to assess its value
and determine the remuneration that must go to the
owner of the ground in which it was found. The
whole affair was kept a profound secret until last
night. In the mean time the commission sat with
closed doors and deliberated. Last night they
decided unanimously that the statue is a Venus, and
the work of some unknown but sublimely gifted artist
of the third century before Christ. They consider
it the most faultless work of art the world has any
knowledge of.
